The 1993 and 1997 Commodity Flow Surveys (CFS) were undertaken through a partnership between the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The CFS produces data on the movement of goods in the United States, including information on commodities shipped, their value, weight, and mode of transportation, as well as the origins and destinations of shipments. Data from the CFS are used for transportation planning and decision making.

The 1997 CFS CD-ROM contains provides information on commodities shipped, their value, weight, size, and mode of transportation, as well as, the origin and destination of shipments of. It has data on United States, individual 50 states, and selected metropolitan areas plus remainder-of-state. The CD-ROM also has publications in PDF (view and read) format, including special reports on hazardous materials transportation and Exports.

The 1993 CFS CD-ROM contains data and information on domestic commodities shipped, their value, weight, size, and mode of transportation, as well as, the origin and destination of shipments of. It has data on the individual 50 states and the 89 National Transportation Analysis Regions (NTARs). The NTARs are based on the Bureau of Economic Analysis regions.

Shipment Characteristics by 3-Digit Commodity Code and Mode of Transportation

StatesTbl11 (1997)

Shipment Characterics by Destination and Mode of Transportation

StatesTbl12 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Destination and Two Digit Commodity

StatesTbl13 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Mode of Transportation

StatesTbl14 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Two-Digit Commodity

StatesTbl15 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Two-Digit Commodity and Mode of Transportation

StatesTbl16 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Two-Digit Commodity and Shipment Size

StatesTbl17 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Two-Digit Commodity and Distance Shipped

StatesTbl2 (1997)

Shipments by Total Modal Activity

StatesTbl3 (1997)

Shipments by Mode-Distance

StatesTbl4 (1997)

Shipments by Mode-Size

StatesTbl5 (1997)

Shipments by Commodity

StatesTbl6 (1997)

Shipments by SCTG-Mode

StatesTbl7 (1997)

Shipments by State of Destination

StatesTbl8 (1997)

Shipments by State of Origin

StatesTbl9 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Three-Digit Commodity

Stats01 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table01

Stats02 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table02

Stats03 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table03

Stats04 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table04

Stats05 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table05

Stats06 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table06

Stats07 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table07

Stats08 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table08

Stats09 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table09

Stats10 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table10

Stats11 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table11

Stats12 (1993)

The coefficients of variation or measures of reliability for Table12

Table01 (1993)

Mode of Transportation for State or NTAR of Origin Note: Deep sea water as a single mode describes shipments moving only on the open waters of the oceans or the Gulf of Mexico.Most shipments moving primarily on the open ocean are tabulated under Inland water and deep sea. 1.Average miles and ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled,not on Great Circle Distance.Calculation of average miles per shipment excludes shipments of STCC 27, Printed Matter.See the About the Mileagessection of the Technical Documentation for further explanation. 2.CFS data for pipelines exclude most shipments of crude oil.See the Shipment Coveragesection of the Technical Documentation for details of CFS coverage.

Table02 (1993)

Total Modal Activity for State or NTAR of Origin. Note:1.Data represent activity for a given mode across single and multiple mode shipments. For example, total truck activity includes private truck and/or for-hire truck single mode combined with private and For-hire truck segments of all multiple mode trips including truck. 2.Average miles and ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled,not on Great Circle Distance.Calculation of average miles per shipment excludes shipments of STCC 27, Printed Matter.See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation.

Table03 (1993)

Mode of Transportation and Distance Shipped for State or NTAR of Origin.Note: Deep sea water as a single mode describes shipments moving only on the open waters of the oceans or the Gulf of Mexico. Most shipments moving primarily on the open ocean are tabulated under Inland water and deep sea. 1.Ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled, not on Great Circle Distance. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation. 2.CFS data for pipelines exclude most shipments of crude oil. See the Shipment Coverage section of the Technical Documentation for details of CFS coverage.

Table04 (1993)

Mode of Transportation and Shipment Size for State or NTAR of Origin.Note: Deep sea water as a single mode describes shipments moving only on the open waters of the oceans or the Gulf of Mexico. Most shipments moving primarily on the open ocean are tabulated under Inland water and deep sea. 1.Average miles and ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled,not on Great Circle Distance.Calculation of average miles per shipment excludes shipments of STCC 27, Printed Matter. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation. 2. CFS data for pipelines exclude most shipments of crude oil. See the Shipment Coverage section of the Technical Documentation for details of CFS coverage.

Table05 (1993)

Commodity for State or NTAR of Origin.Note: 1.Average miles and ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled, not on Great Circle Distance. Calculation of average miles per shipment excludes shipments of STCC 27, Printed Matter. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation

Table06 (1993)

Commodity and Mode of Transportation for State or NTAR of Origin.Note: Deep sea water as a single mode describes shipments moving only on the open waters of the oceans or the Gulf of Mexico. Most shipments moving primarily on the open ocean are tabulated under Inland water and deep sea. 1.Average miles and ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled,not on Great Circle Distance.Calculation of average miles per shipment excludes shipments of STCC 27, Printed Matter. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation 2. CFS data for pipelines exclude most shipments of crude oil. See the Shipment Coverage section of the Technical Documentation for details of CFS coverage.

Table07 (1993)

State or NTAR of Destination for State or NTAR of Origin. Note: 1. Ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled, not on Great Circle Distance. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation.

Table08 (1993)

State or NTAR of Destination and Mode of Transportation for State or NTAR of Origin. Note: Deep sea water as a single mode describes shipments moving only on the open waters of the oceans or the Gulf of Mexico. Most shipments moving primarily on the open ocean are tabulated under Inland water and deep sea. 1.Ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled, not on Great Circle Distance.See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation. 2. CFS data for pipelines exclude most shipments of crude oil. See the Shipment Coverage section of the Technical Documentation for details of CFS coverage.

Table09 (1993)

State or NTAR of Destination and Commodity for State or NTAR of Origin. Note: 1. Ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled, not on Great Circle Distance. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation.

Table10 (1993)

Commodity and Shipment Size for State or NTAR of Origin. Note: 1. Ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled, not on Great Circle Distance. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation

Table11 (1993)

Commodity and Distance Shipped for State or NTAR of Origin. Note: 1. Ton-miles are based on the estimated distance traveled, not on Great Circle Distance. See the About the Mileages section of the Technical Documentation for further explanation.

Table12 (1993)

State or NTAR of Destination, Commodity and Mode for State or NTAR of Origin

USAsc1(1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Transport Mode

USAsc10 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Commodity-Size

USAsc11 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Three Digit Commodity for the United States: 1997

USAsc12 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Four-Digit Commodity for the United States: 1997

USAsc13 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Three-Digit Commodity and Mode of Transportation for the United States: 1997

USAsc14 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Two-Digit Commodity and Mode of Transportation by Distance Shipped for the United States: 1997

USAsc15 (1997)

Shipment Characteristics by Two-Digit Commodity and Mode of Transportation by Shipment Size for the United States: 1997

Air service for shipments that typically weigh more than 100 pounds using commercial or private aircraft. Includes air freight and air express.

Average Miles Per Shipment

The 1993 CFS excluded shipments of STCC 27, Printed Matter, from calculation of average miles per shipment. This was done after determining that respondents in the 1993 CFS shipping newspapers, magazines, catalogs, etc., had used widely varying definitions of the term shipment. In the 1997 CFS, numerous efforts were made during data collection and editing to produce consistent results from establishments shipping SCTG 29, Printed Products. As a result, average miles per shipment for printed products is included in calculations for the 1997 CFS.

Commodity

Products that an establishment produces, sells, or distributes. This does not include items that are considered as excess or byproducts of the establishment's operation. For the Commodity Flow Survey, respondents reported the description and the five-digit Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG) code for the major commodity contained in the shipment, defined as the commodity with the greatest weight in the total shipment.

Deep Draft Vessel

A barge, ship, or ferry operating primarily in the open ocean. (Shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway is classified with shallow draft vessels.)

Distance Shipped

The distance between origin and destination for a shipment. For the distance shipped intervals table, the distance is calculated based on the great circle distance between the origin and destination ZIP Code centroids. All other distance-related data (i.e., ton-miles and average miles per shipment) are based on the mileage calculations produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

For-Hire Truck

Trucks that carry freight for a fee collected from the shipper, recipient of the shipment, or an arranger of the transportation.

Great Circle Distance

The shortest distance between two points on the earth's surface.

Great Lakes

A single mode specially created in ORNL's transportation network for the Commodity Flow Survey for mileage calculations which involve transportation via the Great Lakes between the origin and destination ZIP Codes (see the Mileage Calculations section for more details).

Mode Of Transportation

The type of transportation used for moving a shipment to its domestic destination. For exports, the domestic destination is the port of exit.

Multiple Modes

Parcel, U.S. Postal Service or courier shipments or shipments for which two or more of the following modes of transportation were used: private truck, for-hire truck, rail, shallow draft vessel, deep draft vessel, or pipeline.

Other And Unknown Modes

Shipments for which modes were not reported, or were reported by the respondent as Other or Unknown.

Other Multiple Modes

Shipments using any other mode combinations not specifically listed in the Commodity Flow Survey tables.

Parcel Delivery/Courier/U.S. Postal Service

Delivery services, parcels, packages, and other small shipments that typically weigh less than 100 pounds. Includes bus parcel delivery service.

Pipeline

Movements of oil, petroleum, gas, slurry, etc., through pipelines that extend to other establishments or locations beyond the shipper's establishment. Aqueducts for the movement of water are not included.

Private Truck

Trucks operated by a temporary or permanent employee of an establishment or the buyer/receiver of the shipment.

Railroad

Includes common carriers (for-hire carriers that hold themselves out to serve the general public at reasonable rates and without discrimination) and private railroads (carriers not open to the public at large).

Shallow Draft Vessels

Barges, ships, or ferries operating primarily on rivers and canals; in harbors, the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway; the Intracoastal Waterway, the Inside Passage to Alaska, major bays and inlets; or in the ocean close to the shoreline.

Shipment

An individual movement of commodities from an establishment to a customer or to another location of the originating company (including a warehouse, distribution center, retail or wholesale outlet). A shipment uses one or more modes of transportation including parcel delivery, U.S. Postal Service, courier, private truck, for-hire truck, rail, water, pipeline, air, and other modes.

Standard Classification Of Transported Goods

A commodity coding system developed jointly by agencies of the United States and Canadian governments based on the Harmonized System to address statistical needs in regard to products transported. (acronym SCTG)

Ton Mile

The weight times the mileage for a shipment. The respondents reported shipment weight in pounds, and mileage was calculated as the distance between the shipment origin and destination ZIP Codes. For shipments by truck, rail, or shallow draft vessels, the mileage excludes international segments. Aggregated pound-miles were converted to ton-miles (based on short tons). The ton-miles data are displayed in millions.

Tons Shipped

The total weight of an entire shipment. Respondents reported the weight in pounds. Aggregated pounds were converted to short-tons (2,000 pounds). The tons data are displayed in thousands.

Total Modal Activity

The overall activity (e.g., ton-miles) of a specific mode of transportation, whether used in a single-mode shipment, or as part of a multiple-mode shipment. For example, the total modal activity for private truck is the total ton-miles carried by private truck in single-mode shipments, combined with the total ton-miles carried by private truck in all multiple-mode shipments that include private truck (private truck and for-hire truck, private truck and rail, private truck and air, etc.)

The dollar value of the entire shipment. This is defined as the net selling value, f.o.b. plant, exclusive of freight charges, and excise taxes. The value data are displayed in millions of dollars.

Water

Shipments using shallow draft vessel only, deep draft vessel only, or Great Lakes vessel only. Combinations of these modes, such as shallow draft vessel and Great Lakes vessel are included as Other multiple modes.